In general, tabbing machines are used to affix adhesive backed tabs over the open edges of media, which are commonly used in bulk rate mailers. Typically, these tabbing machines include rollers which feed a single form or media from the bottom of a stack of media with driven rollers toward a tab dispensing area. The open edge of the media is driven against the tab and the tab is folded over the open edge and onto the sides of the media with additional rollers.
One problem encountered with such tabbing machines results from the variable pressure sensitivity of the rolls of adhesive backed tabs due to, for example, the age of the tabs and other physical properties. These tabbing machines may not be capable of dispensing a wide variety of shapes and sizes of tabs which are necessary for the wide variety or shapes and sizes media. It is also important to properly place the tab over the edge so that the tab is preferably secured equally to each side of the media. It would be desirable to have a tabbing machine which could be easily adjusted to take into account the pressure sensitivity of the tabs, the size of the tabs, and the positioning of the tabs on the media.
Another problem encountered in existing tabbing machines is the tendency of the opposing rollers, which are used to fold the tab and which are typically made of rubber or plastic, to grip the tab prior to the tab entering a nip region between the opposing rollers. This gripping action may result in the improper placement of the tab on the media. It would be desirable to have a folding roller system which prevents such gripping.
Existing tabbing systems may also include roller shafts which are permanently attached to the frame, and accordingly make it difficult to clear jams. In addition, roller pairs are used to take-up the backing paper when dispensing a tab. Moreover, existing tabbing systems have inefficiencies due to the additional horsepower necessary to drive the variable load of tabs on the tab reel. These systems must be sized with motors and tab reel brakes to handle the condition when the tab reel has a full load, for example, a roll of 5000 tabs. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an efficient, low-cost system which solves the problems described above.